Software
Houzz Logo Print
sheila

Can you please help me finish this room?

4 years ago

This room in my new house will be used primarily for tv watching. I think it still needs a coffee table(s) and floor lamp(s), and I am planning to get the pictures framed so they will fill the space better. But it still looks rather bland and uninspired to me. What am I doing wrong, or what do I need to add?



Comments (22)

  • 4 years ago

    Pretty room! A much larger rug would help, as would as draperies - if the curtains could have pattern/texture, and if the rug had a bit of pattern/varying colors, it will add some life to the room. I'm not sure you need frames on your artwork, but I would hang them closer together (separated by just 2-3 inches and centered on the sofa). Add a round glass-topped coffee table - a dark-colored base (similar to that on your plant stand in the corner) would be nice. Then, add a simple arrangement on top of the coffee table.


    Re: lamps - do you have floor outlets? If not, I'd opt for a long narrow sofa table between the sectional and the wall, and bookend the wall art with two lamps.

    Sheila Rowan thanked Sammie J
  • 4 years ago

    Is your sofa an actual chaise sofa, or is that extension simpy a footstool/hassock? Lower the art to 5" above the sofa and each one a hand's breadth from its neighbor so they'll be more cohesive and create a better vignette with the sofa. That tall cabinet by the window won't work if you properly hang drapes. You need a bigger rug to anchor the sofa. Is that a baby grand in the back of the first photo?





    Sheila Rowan thanked decoenthusiaste
  • 4 years ago

    Also...try a table in between the two chairs.

    Sheila Rowan thanked shirlpp
  • 4 years ago

    Yes, the sofa extension is connected by a metal clip, so it can be detached. And yes, that is a baby grand behind the chairs. I agree with everyone who pointed out that the rug is too small. But I'm a little unsure about adding draperies because this is in Florida, and I prefer a light, airy look. The ceiling slopes up to double height on the tv side of the room, so I'm concerned that a 9 foot line of draperies at the top of the walls would cut the space in half. Also, as decoenthusiaste points out, there is no space for drapes on the left side of the window unless I remove the liquor cabinet. And there is a built-in speaker on the right side of the window that would also be covered. Does anyone think I could spruce up this room without adding drapes?

  • 4 years ago

    You mention uninspired - only you know what inspires you. So I copied this photo from your ideabook - what does this room have that you like?


    Coral Gables Dining Room · More Info


    Sheila Rowan thanked everdebz
  • 4 years ago

    Everdebz, this picture was inspiration for the dining room in my last house. What I like about it is the modern furniture and artwork, the beautiful view of green through the windows, and the simple green, white, and wood color scheme.

  • 4 years ago

    Reflecting on what you liked about the inspiration photo —- are you sure the blue rug is the right color choice for you?

    Sheila Rowan thanked S Mil
  • 4 years ago

    I think that you need something dark at the sofa end of the room to balance all of the beautiful dark pieces on the TV wall. It might be just different paintings or pillows for the sofa. As it is, it feels as if it will tip to the TV side.

    Sheila Rowan thanked Yvonne Martin
  • 4 years ago

    S Mil, my house doesn't have the beautiful green view of the inspiration photo, but what it does have is a view of a dark blue lake and I was trying to echo that with the blue rug.

  • 4 years ago

    The room looks blah because it is lacking a focal point. A coffee table would add a focal point. Would you consider painting just the tv wall…a soft green would be nice?

    Sheila Rowan thanked Amanda Smith
  • 4 years ago

    In most rooms, a piano like yours is the focal point. Can you post pix of what you're doing in that end of the space? I think we can pull this together for you.

    Sheila Rowan thanked decoenthusiaste
  • 4 years ago

    It's a long, skinny room and I have been using the piano to divide it into two separate sitting areas. I haven't worried about decorating the other sitting area because I am planning to change its back wall to a sliding glass door flanked by two windows that extend all the way to the floor. After that is done I will see about decorating that space; I just want to get a functioning tv area for now.




  • 4 years ago

    Sounds like you have your heart set on removing the back wall, but with such a long room you should consider a back-to-back arrangement with the piano the focal of the front area. I would have made the space you've just shown us the main TV room. The bar cabinet is crowding the front entry so I would place it where the two pictures are and TV under that high window in the back. Float the sectional to face TV and, possibly reverse the chaise to the bar cabinet side of the space. The piece of furniture (a console??) under the high window now would go where your TV is with the two pieces of pastel art above 5" above it and one hand's breadth apart. The piano would angle in the front corner of the other space and the gray sofa would back up to the sectional in the middle of the room (more or less.) You might add a sofa table between the two sofas. The two white swivel chairs can float right and left of the gray sofa within 12-18' of the two gray stools that will replace your coffee table, which is too low. The three tropical pictures can still work on their current wall but centered 5' above the floor and hung one hand's breadth apart. Here are a few pix to show the concept of placing sofas like that. What do you think?


    HOUSE ON THE NAVESINK · More Info


    Lake Martin Retreat · More Info


    Hand Crafted Ceiling Beams · More Info


    Sheila Rowan thanked decoenthusiaste
  • 4 years ago
    last modified: 4 years ago

    Dark green slipcovers for your chairs and a green rug and some type of sheers with a very small green detail in it. Or even if you used the other black spotted rug instead of the blue rug and put the piano on the left side (looks like by your entryway) and moved the furniture more toward the center of the room. Then w the furniture in the center of the room you could place the furniture so as to make two u shapes on either end of the room and place a coffee table in the center of the two furniture groupings. enjoy my leet sketch below p = piano . = chair placement | = coffee table

    p [ . | . ]

    EDIT: reply

    yes you can get away with the plantation shutters oh and then maybe just the standard black picture frame would give more of a focal point. then

    p .. ] | [ ..


    p ,—, : | : ]

    Sheila Rowan thanked HU-682469475
  • 4 years ago

    This is a typical tract home from the early 2000's that I bought for practical, not aesthetic reasons. Its one redeeming feature is the lake view, which is why I want to put glass in the back wall (plus the fact that my favorite styles, modernist and midcentury, both use large expanses of glass). I think I could still divide the space with back to back sofas, but the room is a little less than 15 feet wide, which means my current sofas wouldn't fit, I would have to get new ones. And since the room is 41 feet long, l wonder whether only two seating areas would leave an awkward amount of empty space?

    Earlier I asked whether anyone thought I could get by with just the current plantation shutters and no drapes on the windows. So far the answer has been a deafening silence. Anybody want to venture a reply?

  • 4 years ago

    In my first comment I mentioned the need to move the bar cabinet for properly hung drapes to work there. If you want drapes, you'll need to do some adjusting with the furniture arrangement. Wait until you've finalized all that to think about adding them.

    Sheila Rowan thanked decoenthusiaste
  • 4 years ago

    Your room is lovely. I like plantation shutters without curtains. I think the blue rug doesn't work because there is very little blue anywhere else in the room. It's also too small. To get rid of the "blahs", you need some pattern, and if you aren't adding it with drapes, then add it with a patterned rug.

    Sheila Rowan thanked ratherbeatthebeach
  • 4 years ago

    Here are some examples of rugs:

    Sheila Rowan thanked ratherbeatthebeach
  • 4 years ago

    Pretty room! A much bigger patterned rug with a pad underneath. The shutters are beautiful and I would not cover them. Try the ottoman as a coffee table with a large round wicker tray. More pillows on the sofa and the small table between the chairs. Maybe angle the chairs a bit.

    Sheila Rowan thanked Stacey
  • 4 years ago

    Since you specifically asked about the drapes, my opinion is you don't need them with the plantation shutters, your style and the fact you are in FL.

    Sheila Rowan thanked kcooz07
  • 4 years ago

    I love the chrtreuse and turquoise Oriental rug, will try to use it in another room in my house! The new bigger area rug is coming Thursday. It's blue braided jute, so it has lots of texture but no pattern. I'm thinking a Noguchi table could look good on it, and would complement the curves of the two swivel chairs. The pictures actually have a blue background, so I'm thinking of getting dark blue frames to emphasize that. And finally, matching small floor lamps for either side of the sofa.